The Fix Is In's "Can I use the term 'Super Bowl' without the NFL suing me for some sort of copyright/trademark infringement?" sort-of prediction for SB48.

(Hmmm....That logo looks awfully Seahawks in color, don't it?)

In all honesty, I hate making this page every Super Bowl. Ian Punnett from Coast to Coast AM (you're missed, buddy) got me started on this back with Super Bowl 45 between the Packers and Steelers. I nailed it. The following year...not so good. Then last year, I was right again, but really, so what? If I was 100% dead-on accurate with a prediction, my doubters would just say, "lucky guess" and still not believe half of what's written on this website. And if I'm wrong, well then, "See? The NFL is totally legitimate. (And you're a moron)."

Somewhat right, somewhat wrong. But picking the Mannings and the Seahawks wasn't that tough, was it? Both were the #1 seeds, and now the two best teams in the NFL are playing the first-ever New York/New Jersey Super Bowl which just also happens to be the epicenter of American media.

So who wins this?

Let me be straight with you: I don't know. I don't work for the NFL. I don't know what goes on behind closed doors at owners' meetings or inside the commissioner's office (99.9% of NFL writers don't, either). I'm not a gambler or a handicapper. What I do is try to decipher these leagues by pointing out their misdeeds - and there's plenty of those to cover...and see get covered-up.

But I can tell you a few things the mainstream sports media won't or hasn't. For one, they can't read my email (only the NSA and maybe CIA can), and I have received somewhere around 100 emails from fans since the start of the playoffs. EVERY SINGLE EMAIL in my inbox has said the same thing:

THE NFL IS GIVING THIS SUPER BOWL TO PEYTON MANNING

That scares me. Has the league become that obvious in their fixing ways? Perhaps, as this has clearly been one of the worst officiated seasons in recent memory...and that includes last year's bane: the replacement referees.

It seems that the media has made this a "Good vs. Evil" battle. Clearly the poster boy for "Good" is Manning and his record breaking offense. "Evil" in some minds has come to be personified by Richard Sherman and his "Legion of Boom" thanks to 30 seconds of post-game interview.

It's kind of hard to see Goodell happily handing the Lombardi Trophy over to these guys. However, the Seahawks are still owed one from the monumental screw-job that was Super Bowl 40 vs. the Steelers. You know, the one where the guilty referee actually apologized to the franchise a few years later?

If
Manning was truly riding off into the sunset after Sunday's game, one
would be hard pressed to think any result besides a Broncos win could
possibly occur. You can almost picture him and Elway co-raising the
championship trophy, and then seeing that picture autographed by both
selling for $5,000 on the NFL Shop within the week.

My guess:
At the two minute warning, Manning will have the ball in his hands and
one final drive to see who wins or loses. This will appease FOX and its
advertisers shelling out $4 million for a 30 second spot.

From there, your guess is as good as mine.

But I might follow the advice of all those emails I received and take Manning over Sherman any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Just watch how the flags fly. Or I might follow the "12th Man" and assume this is the Super Bowl the Seahawks are "owed." If the refs "let them play" they way the allowed the Patriots to mug the Rams' Greatest Show on Turf a few Super Bowls ago or if they keep awarding the Broncos first downs on defensive holding and pass interference calls, we'll know where their loyalties lie.

Enjoy the commercials!

"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect." - Ralph Waldo Emerson; "I hate all sports as rabidly as a person who likes sports hates common sense." -- H. L. Mencken